From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday acquitted one Ravinder Singh alias Kaku sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in February 2011 under Section 302 IPC for murder of two brothers Aman Kumar (10) and OM (6) in Moga town of Punjab in September 2009.
The two brothers did not return from tution at 6 PM as usual and their father approached the police when they did not return home till 9 PM. Their bodies were located in a nearby paddy field the next day.
Ravinder as well as his two accomplices Ranjit Kumar Gupta and Anita alias Arti, were convicted by the trial court and sentenced to death. The High Court, however, released the two accomplices and reduced Ravinder’s punishment to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment.
A Bench of justices Uday Umesh Lalit and Vineet Saran on Wednesday set aside Ravinder’s conviction and ordered the jail authorities to set him free. The Bench also rejected the Punjab government’s plea against the acquittal of the other two adn allowed the criminal appeal of Ravinder.
The top court held that it is impossible to sustain Ravinder’s conviction, solely on teh circumstantial evidences. It said “the tripod stand of Motive, Last Seen Theory and Recovery, supporting his conviction by the High Court, is found to be non-conclusive and the evidence supporting his conviction is marred with inconsistencies and contradictions.”
It held that the electronic evidence produced before the High Court is not in accordance with the statute and it cannot possibly suffice as Section 65B(4) is a mandatory requirement of the law.
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